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Circular 38

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2 38b.0706

Highlights of 

Copyright Amendments 

Contained in the URAA

What Is the URAA?

On December 8, 1994, President Clinton signed the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). The URAA implements the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which includes an agreement on the TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). Several provisions of the 

URAA amend the U. S. copyright law at 17 USC 104A, 109 (b). The URAA also 

adds a new Chapter 11 to title 17 and a new section 2319A to title 18.1

United States Law Amended

The URAA amends United States law in several ways.

• It amends the computer program rental provision found in section 109 (b) 

of the Copyright Act by eliminating the expiration or “sunset date,” so that 

copyright owners of computer programs will continue to enjoy an exclusive 

rental right.

• It amends both the Copyright Act and title 18 of the U. S. Code to create civil 

and criminal remedies for “bootlegging” sound recordings of live musical 

performance and music videos. These new remedies are in addition to any 

remedies that exist under the laws of the various states.

• Finally, it amends section 104A of the Copyright Act to provide for the automatic restoration of copyright in certain foreign works that are in the public 

domain2 in the United States but are protected by copyright or neighboring 

rights in the source country. The effective date for restoration of copyright 

for works from countries that are currently eligible is January 1, 1996. This 

circular explains this amendment to the law in considerable detail.

The URAA also gives the Copyright Office several responsibilities related to 

restoration and registration of those works.3

Restoration of Copyrights of Eligible Works

Ownership of Restored Copyright

A restored copyright vests initially in the author or initial rightholder, as determined by the law of the restored work’s source country or by the owner of an 

exclusive right in the United States.
2 · Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA

Eligibility for Restoration

Copyright in eligible works was restored January 1, 1996. To be 

eligible, the work must meet all the following requirements:

1 At the time the work was created, at least one author (or 

rightholder in the case of a sound recording) must have 

been a national or domiciliary of an eligible country. An 

eligible country is a country, other than the United States, 

that is a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention), is 

a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), or is 

subject to a presidential proclamation that extends restored 

copyright protection to that country on the basis of reciprocal treatment to the works of U. S. nationals or domiciliaries;

2 The work is not in the public domain in its source country through expiration of the term of protection;

3 The work is in the public domain in the United States 

because the work did not comply with formalities 

imposed at any time by the U. S. law,4

 the work lacked 

subject matter protection in the United States in the case 

of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, or the 

work lacked national eligibility in the United States; and

4 If published, the work must have first been published in 

an eligible country and must not have been published in 

the United States during the 30-day period following its 

first publication in that eligible country.

Term of Copyright

The copyright in any work in which copyright is restored will 

last for the remainder of the term of copyright that the work 

would have enjoyed if the work had never entered the public 

domain in the United States.

Generally, the U. S. copyright term for works published 

before January 1, 1978, lasts for 95 years from the year of first 

publication. Although sound recordings fixed before 1972 

were not then protected by federal copyright, those sound 

recordings will receive the remainder of the term they would 

have received had they been protected by such copyright 

when published. For example, a sound recording published 

in 1925 will be protected until 2020. For works published on 

or after January 1, 1978, the term of copyright is the life of 

the author plus 70 years. For example:

• A French short story that was first published without copyright notice in 1935 will be treated as if it had 

both been published with a proper notice and properly 

renewed, meaning that its restored copyright will expire 

on December 31, 2030 (95 years after the U. S. copyright 

would have come into existence).

• A Chinese play from 1983 will be protected until December 31 of the seventieth year after the year in which its 

author dies.

• A Mexican sound recording first published in Mexico in 

1965 will be protected until December 21, 2060.

For further information concerning the length of copyright protection in the United States, request Circular 15a, 

Duration of Copyright.

Restoration Is Automatic

Eligible copyrights are restored automatically and no further 

steps need to be taken to make a restored copyright fully 

enforceable against any party other than a reliance party.

Notice of Intent to Enforce (NIE)

Notification of Reliance Parties

Although copyright is restored automatically in eligible 

works, the URAA directs the owner of a restored work to 

notify reliance parties if the owner of the rights in a restored 

work plans to enforce those rights. A reliance party is typically a business or individual who, relying on the public 

domain status of a work, was already using the work prior to 

the date of enactment of the URAA on December 8, 1994.5

The URAA authorizes the owner of a right in a restored 

work either

• to provide actual notice by notifying a reliance party 

directly, or

• to provide constructive notice through the filing of a 

Notice of Intent to Enforce (NIE) a Restored Copyright 

with the Copyright Office.

The URAA further directs the Copyright Office to publish 

in the Federal Register, the U. S. government’s publication for 

official agency notices, a list identifying restored works and 

their ownership where NIEs have been filed with the Office. 

For inspection and copying by the public, the Copyright 

Office maintains a list identifying all NIEs.

Date to File NIEs

Eligibility on January 1, 1996 · The owner of a restored 

work may file an NIE directly with a reliance party at any 

time after the date of restoration. If the owner wished to 

file an NIE with the Copyright Office, the owner of a work 

whose source country as of January 1, 1996, was a member of 

the Berne Convention or the WTO must have filed an NIE 
Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA · 3

for that work between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 

1997.6 The Office published the first listing of NIEs on May 

1, 1996 (61 FR 19371), and published lists at regular 4-month 

intervals for the next 2 years. All are available on the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov.

Eligibility after January 1, 1996 · When a country 

becomes eligible as a source country after January 1, 1996, 

owners of restored works from such a country will have a 

2-year period from the date of eligibility for filing NIEs with 

the Copyright Office.

Grace Period for Use of Restored Work After Notification

A reliance party has a 12-month grace period to sell off previously manufactured stock, to perform or display the work 

publicly, or to authorize others to conduct these activities. 

This period begins when the reliance party receives notice 

that the owner is enforcing the copyright in the identified 

work. The date runs from either the date of publication 

in the Federal Register identifying the work or the date of 

receipt of the actual notice. If notice is provided both by 

publication in the Federal Register and service on the reliance 

party, the period runs from whichever date is the earlier date. 

Except for certain reliance parties who created derivative 

works, a reliance party must cease using the restored work 

after the 12-month grace period expires unless the reliance 

party reaches a licensing agreement with the copyright owner 

for continued use of the restored work.

Subsection (d)(3) of the amended section 104A of the 

Copyright Act contains special rules with respect to certain 

derivative works created before December 8, 1994, based 

on underlying restored works, such as the translation of a 

restored work or a motion picture based on a restored book 

or a play. Such derivative works may continue to be exploited 

by a reliance party, if the reliance party pays the owner of the 

restored copyright reasonable compensation.

Filing an NIE in the Copyright Office

The following information describes how to file an NIE with 

the Copyright Office. Filing actual notice on a reliance party 

is described later in this circular.

Format for Filing an NIE

The Copyright Office does not provide a form for filing 

an NIE, however, the attachment to this circular and the 

regulations published in the Federal Register and the Code of 

Federal Regulations contain a format that may be used to file 

notices. This format also may be downloaded from the Internet at www.copyright.gov.

The format includes both required and optional information. The Copyright Office strongly recommends use of 

this format. An NIE filed with the Copyright Office should 

be typed or printed legibly by hand on 8 1⁄2* 11" (or a4, i.e., 

210 * 297 mm) white paper with a 1" (or 3 cm) margin.

Content of Notice of Intent to Enforce

The URAA specifies the minimum content of an NIE. It 

requires that the notice be signed by the owner or the owner’s agent. In addition to the signature, it must contain the 

title, or a brief description if untitled; an English-language 

translation of the title if the title is in a foreign language; 

any other alternative titles known to the owner by which the 

restored work may be identified; the name of the copyright 

owner of the restored work or owner of an exclusive right 

therein; and the address and telephone number at which the 

owner can be contacted. Although the Copyright Office can 

ask for additional information, failure to provide it will not 

invalidate the NIE.

The Copyright Office has identified certain information 

that is not required by the URAA but is important for proper 

identification of a restored work. It includes:

1 type of work (painting, sculpture, music, motion picture, 

sound recording, book, etc.)

2 name of author(s)

3 source country

4 approximate year of first publication

5 additional identifying information (e.g., for movies: director, leading actors, screenwriter, animator; for photographs: 

subject matter; for books: editor, publisher, contributors)

6 rights owned by the party on whose behalf the NIE is filed 

(e.g., the right to reproduce/distribute/publicly display/

publicly perform the work, or to prepare a derivative work 

based on the work)

7 telefax number at which the owner, exclusive rights holder, 

or agent can be reached

Multiple Works

Multiple works may be included on a single NIE provided 

that: 1) each work is identified by title, or a brief description 

if untitled; 2) all the works have the same author; 3) all the 

works are owned by the same copyright owner or the owner 

of the exclusive rights therein; and 4) the rights owned by the 

party on whose behalf the notice is being filed are the same.

Signature and Certification

The NIE must be signed by the owner of the restored copyright, the owner of an exclusive right therein, or an agent of 
4 · Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA

the owner. The agency relationship must be established in 

writing and signed by the owner before the NIE is filed.

The NIE must include a certification statement indicating 

that the information given is correct to the best of the filer’s 

knowledge. Any material false statement knowingly made 

with respect to any restored copyright identified in an NIE 

shall void all claims and assertions against reliance parties 

made about such restored copyright. The certification statement is found on the sample format.

Fee

The nonrefundable fee* for filing an NIE covers a notice including one work. For a notice covering multiple works, there is 

an additional fee for each group of 10 titles. The fee includes 

the cost of an acknowledgement of recordation, which will be 

mailed to the filer after the Copyright Office records the NIE. 

The fee may be paid by any of the following methods:

1 Checks, money orders, or bank drafts made payable to 

Register of Copyrights. Remittances must be redeemable without service or exchange fees through a U. S. 

institution, must be payable in U. S. dollars, and must be 

imprinted with American Banking Association routing 

numbers. Currency, international money orders, and 

postal money orders that are negotiable only at a post 

office are not acceptable.

2 Copyright Office deposit account. This is an account into 

which an applicant makes advance payment for use later 

in paying copyright fees. For information on deposit 

accounts, request Circular 5, How to Open and Maintain a 

Deposit Account in the Copyright Office.

3 Credit cards (for use only in filings under the URAA). The 

Copyright Office will accept Visa, MasterCard, and 

American Express. Debit cards cannot be accepted for 

payment. To pay by credit card, the filer must provide in a 

separate letter the name of the credit card used, the credit 

card number, the expiration date of the credit card, the 

total amount authorized to be charged, and a signature 

authorizing the Copyright Office to charge the fees to that 

account. To protect the security of the credit card number, 

the credit card number must not appear on the NIE, since 

the notice becomes part of the public record.

The filer of an NIE must ensure that sufficient funds 

accompany the NIE or are available in a deposit account. 

Insufficient fees could delay the effective date of notice.

*note: Copyright Office fees are subject to change. 

For current fees, please check the Copyright Office website 

at www.copyright.gov, write the Copyright Office, or call 

(202) 707-3000.

Address

Send NIEs to the following address:

GC/I&R

P O Box 70400, Southwest Station

Washington, DC 20024 USA

Do not mail to the Copyright Office.

Serving Notice Directly on a Reliance Party

The Copyright Office does not provide a form for use in 

serving an NIE directly on a reliance party. Those parties 

choosing to serve a Notice of Intent to Enforce a Restored 

Copyright on the reliance party should note that the URAA 

requires additional information. Therefore, if they use the 

Copyright Office’s NIE format as a guide for the actual 

notice, it will be incomplete unless the additional information specified is added. The URAA specifications follow, 

with roman type added to show additional requirements for 

actual notice:

Notices of Intent to Enforce a Restored Copyright served on 

a reliance party shall be signed by the owner or the owner’s 

agent, shall identify the restored work and the work in 

which the restored work is used, if any, in detail sufficient 

to identify them, and shall include an English translation of 

the title, any other alternative titles known to the owner by 

which the work may be identified, the use or uses to which 

the owner objects, and an address and telephone number at 

which the reliance party may contact the owner. If the notice 

is signed by an agent, the agency relationship must have 

been constituted in writing and signed by the owner before 

service of the notice. [104A(e)(2)(B) of the URAA]

Actual notice may be served on a reliance party at any time 

after copyright in the work is restored.

Restoration of Claims to Copyright in 

Restored Works

The URAA directs the Copyright Office to provide procedures for registration of claims to copyright; however, 

copyright owners of restored works need not register their 

works. Although the copyright law provides that the author 

or copyright owner of a work that is not considered a Berne 

Convention work must register the work or seek registration 

before he or she can bring a copyright infringement action 

in federal court,7 the owner of rights in a Berne work does 

not have to register before initiating a copyright infringement suit.
Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA · 5

Who May Claim Copyright

A claim in a restored work may be registered only in the name 

of the owner(s) of the U. S. copyright on the date that the 

application is submitted, that is, in the name of the owner(s) 

of all U. S. rights in that work. A licensee or other owner of 

only certain exclusive rights in a work is not permitted to register a claim in a restored work in his or her name.

How to Obtain GATT Registration Forms

Special GATT registration forms must be used for registration of works restored under the URAA. Use Form GATT 

for claims to copyright in restored works and restored works 

published under a single series title.

There are several ways to obtain forms.

• Request a limited number of free application forms by 

writing to:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

Publications Section

101 Independence Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20559-6000

• Call the Forms and Publications Hotline at (202) 707-9100 

at any time and leave a recorded message.

• Download forms from the Copyright Office website 

at www.copyright.gov. Forms should be printed 

head-to-head on a single piece of 81⁄2* 11" white paper so 

that when you turn the paper over, the top of page 2 is 

directly behind the top of page 1. The Copyright Office 

requires downloaded applications on a single sheet of 

paper. Therefore, you should consider reinserting the first 

page back into the printer so that the back page will be 

printed onto it.

• Fill in the forms on the Copyright Office website. Go 

to www.copyright.gov ⁄ forms and follow the instructions. 

The fill-in forms allow you to enter information while 

the form is displayed on the screen by an Adobe Acrobat 

Reader product. You may then print the completed form 

and mail it to the Copyright Office. Fill-in forms provide 

a clean, sharp printout for your records and for filing with 

the Copyright Office.

• Photocopy forms legibly on a single sheet of good quality 

81⁄2* 11" white paper following the instructions for downloaded forms.

Publication

When determining publication information regarding 

restored works for which registration is sought, the following 

guidelines are offered:

• For works published on or after January 1, 1978: Publication is the distribution anywhere in the world of copies 

or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other 

transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The 

offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group 

of persons for purposes of further distribution, public 

performance, or public display constitutes publication. A 

public performance or display of a work does not of itself 

constitute publication. (17 USC 101)

• For works published before January 1, 1978: Publication 

may be defined as the act of making one or more copies of 

a work available to the general public, usually by the sale, 

placing on sale, or the public distribution of one or more 

copies or sound recordings without express or implied 

restrictions as to future use. Recordings of musical compositions were not considered copies of the recorded 

music before January 1, 1978. A distribution of a recording 

before that date would publish the sound recording but 

not the music contained on the recording.

Registration Instructions

Instructions for completing the application forms and information on deposit preferences are included on the forms 

supplied by the Copyright Office. Applications, deposit 

copies, and fees should be submitted in one package.

Registration Fees

The basic registration fee is also applicable to a series of 

works published during a calendar year under a single title 

in episodes, installments, or issues. Copyright Office fees are 

subject to change. For current fees, please check the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov, write the Copyright Office, or call (202) 707-3000.

Address

Applications to register restored works should be sent to the 

following address:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

101 Independence Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20559-6000 USA
6 · Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA

Public Access to NIE Information and Copyright 

Office Registrations

Public Access

The information contained in NIEs filed with the Copyright 

Office and in copyright registrations and related documents 

catalogued since January 1, 1978, is open to the public for 

searching. These records are also available via the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov . In addition, upon 

request, the Copyright Office will search its files for a fee.

The online information includes the title or brief description if untitled; an English translation of the title; the alternative titles if any; the name of the copyright owner or owner 

of an exclusive right; the author; the type of work (if given); 

the date of receipt of the NIE in the Copyright Office; the 

date of publication in the Federal Register; the rights covered 

by the notice (if given); and the address, telephone, and telefax number (if given) of the copyright owner.

Online records of NIEs are searchable by the title of the 

work, the copyright owner or owner of an exclusive right, 

and the author.

Office Searches

The Copyright Office is located in the Library of Congress, 

James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue 

SE, Washington, DC. The public records of Notices of Intent 

to Enforce may be searched by the public Monday through 

Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, eastern time, except federal holidays. Public terminals are located in the Copyright Office and 

in the reading rooms of the Library of Congress.

Upon request and payment of a fee, the Copyright Office 

staff will search the records and furnish a written report. For 

further information, request Circular 22, How to Investigate 

the Copyright Status of a Work, or contact:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

Reference and Bibliography Section

101 Independence Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20559-6000 USA

tel: (202) 707-6850

fax: (202) 707-6859

Relationship to NAFTA

Under the NAFTA Implementation Act,8 a number of Mexican motion picture owners timely filed a Statement of Intent 

to Restore with the Copyright Office.9

 These works will 

continue to enjoy copyright protection, but such protection 

will be governed by the new section 104A substituted by the 

URAA.

Copyright owners of these works need not file an NIE 

under the URAA. However, other works from NAFTA 

countries that are in the public domain in the United States, 

including motion pictures for which no NAFTA restoration 

was sought, are subject to copyright restoration under the 

new section 104A. NAFTA works that have not been registered may be registered using the URAA registration procedures, including GATT forms and deposit preferences.

For Further Information

Information via the Internet

Circulars, announcements, regulations, other related materials, and all copyright application forms are available from the 

Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov.

Information by telephone

For general information about copyright, call the Copyright Public Information Office at (202) 707-3000. The tty 

number is (202) 707-6737. Staff members are on duty from 

8:30 am to 5:00 pm, eastern time, Monday through Friday, 

except federal holidays. Recorded information is available 

24 hours a day. Or, if you know which application forms and 

circulars you want, request them 24 hours a day from the 

Forms and Publications Hotline at (202) 707-9100. Leave a 

recorded message.

Information by regular mail

Write to:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

Publications Section

101 Independence Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20559-6000

Endnotes

1. Pub. L. No. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809; House Document 103-316, 103d 

Congress, 2d Session, September 27, 1994. See also the Statement of 

Administrative Action id. 656, 981.

2. Sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, would not be in the 

public domain; they were protected by state, not federal, copyright law.

3. The Copyright Office has issued final regulations governing its administration of restoration of copyrights under the URAA, including the 

filing of NIEs and registration of copyright claims in restored works by 

amending section 201.31 of 37 CFR and by adding new sections 201.33 

and 202.12 to implement the URAA (60 FR 50414).
Highlights of Copyright Amendments in URAA · 7

4. The work could be in the public domain because the copyright 

owner failed to comply with one or more of the formalities required 

by U. S. copyright law, for instance by publishing the work without a 

proper copyright notice, failing to renew the copyright, or by failing to 

comply with the manufacturing clause or ad interim provisions of the 

copyright law.

5. This is true for the great majority of works. However, for works from 

any country that was not eligible under the URAA as of December 8, 

1994, reliance parties would be those using the work before the date on 

which that country becomes an eligible country by joining Berne or the 

WTO or as a result of a Presidential proclamation.

6. Although a country may become a source country through a presidential proclamation, only one such proclamation has been issued as of 

June 2000. That proclamation had to do with Vietnam.

7. The question of whether a work from a country that is a member of 

WTO but not Berne must be registered was not specifically addressed 

in the legislation, but one can only assume that works that do not come 

under the definition of “Berne Convention work” found in 17 USC 101 

would have to be registered before the owner can initiate a suit.

8. P.L. 103-182, 107 Stat. 2057.

9. See 60 FR8252 (February 13, 1995) for a list of these works.
U. S. Copyright Office · Library of Congress · 101 Independence Avenue SE · Washington, DC 20559-6000 · www.copyright.gov

photography & design by charles gibbons

circular 38b rev: 07 ⁄ 2006 print: 07 ⁄ 2006 — ••,000 Printed on recycled paper u. s. government printing office: 2006-xxx-xxx ⁄ xxxxx

5 Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored (NIE) 

Under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA)

 1 Title:

(If this work does not have a title, state “No title.”) or

 Brief description of work:

(for untitled works only)

 2 English translation of title (if any):

 3 Alternative title(s) (if any):

 4 Type of work:

(e.g., painting, sculpture, music, motion picture, sound recording, book)

 5 Name of author(s):

 6 Source country:

 7 Approximate year of publication:

 8 Additional identifying information:

(e.g., for movies: director, leading actors, screenwriter, animator; for photographs: subject matter; for books: editor, 

publisher, contributors, subject matter)

 9 Name of copyright owner:

(Statements may be filed in the name of the owner of the restored copyright or the owner of an exclusive right therein.)

10 If you are not the owner of all rights,

specify the rights you own:

(e.g., the right to reproduce/distribute/publicly display/publicly perform the work or to prepare a derivative work 

based on the work)

 11 Address at which copyright owner 

may be contacted:

(Give the complete address, including the country, and an “attention” line, or “in care of” name, if necessary.)

 12 Telephone number of owner:

 13 Telefax number of owner:

 14 Certification and signature:

I hereby certify that, for each of the work(s) listed above, I am the copyright owner, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the 

owner’s authorized agent, the agency relationship having been constituted in a writing signed by the owner before the filing 

of this notice, and that the information given herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Signature:

Name (printed or typed):

As agent for (if applicable):

Date:

note: Notices of Intent to Enforce should be in English, except for the original title, and either be typed or printed 

legibly by hand in dark, preferably black, ink. They should be on 8 V * 11", (or a4, 210 * 297 mm) white paper of good 

quality, with at least a 1" (or 3 cm) margin.